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NY City telecomms cause problems

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. today announced that it has revised its fourth quarter publishing schedule as a result of the tragic events that occurred last week in downtown Manhattan, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.

Kelly Sumner, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two Interactive, stated, “We are all deeply saddened by the tragic and unnecessary loss of life as a result of this unprovoked attack.”

Take-Two’s corporate headquarters, which are located in downtown Manhattan, reopened for business on Monday after being closed for four business days, although the Company continues to experience disruptions in telecommunications and network services. Paul Eibeler, President, stated, “Due to the interruption in our business, the Company’s product development, testing and quality control operations were disrupted and we are working aggressively to return to normal operations. Additionally, in light of the tragedies that occurred last week, we believe it is appropriate to change certain content in our games. As a result of these unfortunate events, we are revising our product release schedule.”

Grand Theft Auto 3 and Smuggler’s Run 2, which contained content that the Company deemed inappropriate given recent events, in particular references to New York City and Afghanistan, were originally planned for release on PlayStation®2 this month. As a result of the necessary content changes in these two games, the release of both products will be delayed until the second half of October, which will result in reduced sales of these products. The business interruption and additional time and resources required to revise these two games has also resulted in a delay in the release of Max Payne for PlayStation®2, which was originally scheduled to ship at the end of the fiscal fourth quarter. The game is now anticipated to be released early in the Company’s first quarter of fiscal 2002.

Due to these changes in its publishing schedule, the Company’s current financial guidance for the fourth quarter ended October 31, 2001 is being revised to $142 million in net revenue and $0.25 in fully diluted earnings per share. However, the Company expects the delays in its fiscal 2001 product release schedule to positively impact its results for fiscal 2002. The Company will provide further guidance for its fiscal 2002 operating results at a later date. The Company believes that although its short term operating results will be negatively impacted, its financial condition remains strong, and the Company believes that it has adequate capital resources to fund operations and its upcoming release schedule, including such highly anticipated titles as Duke Nukem Forever, Mafia, State of Emergency, Celebrity Deathmatch, Hidden & Dangerous, Midnight Club 2 and Max Payne.”

The Company will be holding a conference call today to discuss in further detail the contents of this release. Further conference call details will follow.